Monkey's Fists

I would really love to sit down some time and learn how to make these.  When I was a summer councilor at camp one year, the director made each of us a necklace with a fist on the end.  We wore them to distinguish who staff was - sometimes we were having so much fun, it was hard to distinguish the campers from the staff I guess!

WIKIPEDIA:   A monkey's fist or monkey paw is a type of knot, so named because it looks somewhat like a small bunched fist/paw. It also looks somewhat like a volleyball or an older style football. It is tied at the end of a rope to serve as a weight, making it easier to throw, and also as an ornamental knot. This type of weighted rope can be used as an improvised weapon, called a slungshot by sailors. It was also used in the past as an anchor in rock climbing, by stuffing it into a crack, but this is obsolete and dangerous.

The monkey's fist knot is most often used as the weight in a heaving line. The line would have the monkey's fist on one end, an eye splice or bowline on the other, with about 30 feet (~10 meters) of line between. A lightweight feeder line would be tied to the bowline, then the weighted monkey's fist could be hurled between ship and dock. The other end of the lightweight line would be attached to a heaver-weight line, allowing it to be drawn to the target easily.

The knot is usually tied around a small weight, such as a stone, marble, tight fold of paper, or a piece of wood. A thicker line will require a larger object in the center to hold the shape of the knot. Another variation of the monkey's fist knot omits the use of an external object as a weight and rather uses the spare end which gets tucked back into the knot. This results in a nicer looking knot of a lesser weight, minimizing the potential danger of hurting someone with the knot when hauling line.

Here is a printable version of directions

These are some good pictorial directions: Monkey's fist on Animated Knots.

And a video: